DURHAM — After a lengthy stalemate, the trustees of the University of New Hampshire have inked a new five-year contract with professors.

Salaries will increase a combined 8.5 percent over the length of the contract through a combination of across-the-board salary increases and merit and equity-based pay hikes.

That averages out to an annual salary increase of 2.4 percent between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2015, according to information provided by UNH.

The terms of the contract proposal were laid out in an independent fact-finding report released in May. Negotiators from UNH and the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors had failed to reach agreement on two similar fact-finder reports since their last contract expired in 2010, after being in effect for one year.

The sticking points had been proposed salary increases, cuts to benefits and alterations that would make it easier for the university to fire employees who engage in questionable behavior.

In the end, "negotiation fatigue" was one of the most significant factors driving the agreement, according to AAUP-UNH President Deanna Wood.

"I think two and a half years is a long time to negotiate a contract, and each side felt it had reached the point where two fact finder reports had come in with very similar recommendations and it was time to settle," she said.

UNH's board of trustees voted to accept the new contract on June 19, with the consent of UNH President Mark Huddleston. Huddleston did not return a call seeking comment this week. UNH's chief negotiator, Candace Corvey, was unavailable for comment until next week.

AAUP members also ratified the new contract in June by a vote of 241 in favor to 10 against. The group represents some 625 employees of the school. Only about 40 percent of the chapter voted.

Under the new contract, wages will remain frozen during the first year of the contract, then begin to rise incrementally in fiscal 2012.

The equity-based salary increases would come in the form of fixed payments for each professor, based on academic rank. The payments are intended to bring the salaries of UNH professors in line with their colleagues at comparable institutions.

According to the university, the average UNH faculty salary is currently 2.3 percent lower than salaries offered at comparable schools, such as the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Connecticut, University of Rhode Island, University of Vermont and University of Maine.

Full professors at UNH currently earn 7 percent less than professors at those schools, according to information provided by UNH.

To address the inequity, the new contract implements flat-dollar amount raises of $5,250 for professors, $2,000 for associate professors and $1,650 for assistant professors, according to the university. Most of the pay hikes would be implemented beginning in the summer of 2013.

"I think everyone's happy to have this settled," Wood said. "Even if it's not a perfect contract, it's just good to have it done so we can get on with the other work that we want to do."

@Subhead:Health care, retirement changes

The contract will also shift a higher percentage of health care insurance costs onto employees. When negotiations began, UNH was seeking to save a combined $1.42 million through the shifts in health care coverage and other changes to retirement plans. In all, the university will save close to $900,000 through the negotiated health care and retirement changes, UNH vice president for finance and administration Dick Cannon said in a statement released in May. Despite the "substantial cost reduction" for UNH, Cannon said the school will still fall short of the cost savings it had hoped to achieve in the new contract.

"We will have to continue to work with the faculty to achieve even more benefits savings in the long term," Cannon said at the time.

Deductibles, co-pays and health insurance premiums are all set to increase for AAUP members. The school offers three health care options to employees. Under the most popular plan, which is chosen by approximately three-quarters of employees, premium payments for a single person will increase from 8 percent to 10 percent of the full cost by fiscal 2013.

The school currently contributes payments equal to 10 percent of an employee's salary for retirement. It also provides a 1 percent "Alternative Retirement Contribution" (ARC) payment.

During the negotiations, the school proposed reducing its retirement contribution by 1 percentage point, and also ceasing the ARC payments for all new hires.

The fact-finder agreed ARC payments should cease for future employees, but recommended maintaining the retirement contribution at 10 percent — a level comparable with the rates offered by similar schools.

@Subhead:New termination language

In addition to amending salaries and benefits, the contract also changes the termination language in professors' contracts. That request was made in light of "lessons learned" from the 2009 arrest of professor Edward Larkin, according to the university.

Larkin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure after exposing himself to two women in a Market Basket parking lot in July 2009. Following the incident, university administrators attempted to fire him, but Larkin contested the termination, and an arbitrator ruled in his favor.

Under the old contract, employees could only be fired if they demonstrated "moral delinquency of a grave order." In the new contract, the language has been changed to "moral turpitude," easing the standard the school must meet to take action against an employee.